Medical Lawyer Comments On Hospital Care

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has issued a formal warning to The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust to improve standards of care at Dewsbury and District Hospital

Following a visit last month, inspectors found some patients on ward two "were not being treated with dignity, respect or consideration".

The CQC has issued a formal warning after inspectors made an unannounced visit on July 3, partly in response to information about the care of older people.

The trust's interim chief executive has since "apologised unreservedly" to the affected patients and said that they had put new leadership in place and held the people responsible to account.

James Thompson, a medical law and patients’ rights expert at Irwin Mitchell’s Leeds office, said: “The care quality commission has previously told the trust to make ‘urgent improvements’ after another inspection found problems with the maternity services.

“On this follow-up visit they found that while the maternity services had improved, patients on ward two were experiencing poor levels of service.

“Patient call bells were not answered for longer than 10 minutes in some cases and there were also concerns about patients waiting for a long time for help going to the toilet.

“Patient safety and comfort has to be the number one priority in the NHS. This latest warning highlights shocking deficiencies in some of the care and it is very alarming that patients were waiting for over 10 minutes for help. If they had needed emergency treatment it could potentially have caused major problems.

“The CQC says it will re-visit at a later date and the Trust needs to show that it has learnt lessons from the concerns raised in this warning.”